Bradford care home "inadequate".

A West Yorkshire care home has been told by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that it must make improvements or face further enforcement action.

The warning to Southfield Care Home, Bradford, followed an unannounced inspection in October 2014 when inspectors found that the home was failing to provide care that was safe, effective, responsive or well led.

All adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, Southfield Care Home has been rated as Inadequate.

The care home has been issued with a warning notice by the CQC, setting a deadline for improvements in relation to quality assurance.

The report identifies several areas where improvements are required including that residents were not kept safe due to poor medicines management; there was a lack of staff knowledge on how to identify, or respond, to the risk of abuse and staff were not always provided with sufficient training and supervision to ensure they could provide safe and effective care.

Inspectors also found the provider had failed to ensure that all parts of the building were in good physical repair, creating potential hazards as people moved around the building. Residents were also being put at risk because staff had failed to notify CQC of some safeguarding incidents at the home.

Inspectors found that the provider did not have adequate processes in place to monitor the quality of service provided, or to identify, assess and manage the risks relating to the health, welfare and safety of residents.

Although there was a complaints procedure, records reviewed by inspectors did not always demonstrate that appropriate action had been taken to resolve the issues raised.

Deputy chief inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, Debbie Westhead, said: “Southfield Care Home fell a long way short of what we expect services to provide. They must take action to resolve the issues we identified.

“While we did see some caring interactions between staff and people living in the home, and that in some ways people were well supported, the safety issues we identified need urgent attention.

“We will return to the home to check that the necessary improvements have been made. If not, we will take further action to ensure that people living there receive care which is safe, effective, caring and responsive to their needs.”

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